The Liberal Conspiracy Theories

Glen Beck has been pushing his conspiracy theories. Now the liberals are doing it. They are unable to imagine that there is anything wrong with their president or with their economic theories. So many of them believe that the Republicans and their business allies, to ensure that the president will not get re-elected, are deliberately sabotaging the economy. From Michael Gerson:

If a president of this quality and insight has failed, it must be because his opponents are uniquely evil, coordinated and effective. The problem is not Obama but the ruthless conspiracy against him.

So Matt Yglesias warns the White House to be prepared for “deliberate economic sabotage” from the GOP – as though Chamber of Commerce SWAT teams, no doubt funded by foreigners, are preparing attacks on the electrical grid. Paul Krugman contends that “Republicans want the economy to stay weak as long as there’s a Democrat in the White House.” Steve Benen explains, “We’re talking about a major political party . . . possibly undermining the strength of the country – on purpose, in public, without apology or shame – for no other reason than to give themselves a campaign advantage in 2012.” Benen’s posting was titled “None Dare Call it Sabotage.”

So what is the proof of this charge? It seems to have something to do with Republicans criticizing quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve. And opposing federal spending. And, according to Benen, creating “massive economic uncertainty by vowing to gut the national health care system.”

One is tempted to respond that it is $1 trillion in new debt, the prospect of higher taxes and a complicated, disruptive health-reform law that have created “massive economic uncertainty.” For the purposes of this argument, however, it is sufficient to say that all these economic policy debates have two sides.

Yet this is precisely what the sabotage theorists must deny. They must assert that the case for liberal policies is so self-evident that all opposition is malevolent. But given the recent record of liberal economics, policies that seem self-evident to them now seem questionable to many. Objective conditions call for alternatives. And Republicans are advocating the conservative alternatives – monetary restraint, lower spending, lower taxes – they have embraced for 30 years.

When Republicans “embraced” the first two of those three values during the Bush years, they must have had their fingers crossed on both hands – while their noses grew very long, and their pants were ablaze.

When Republicans “embraced” the first two of those three values during the Bush years, they must have had their fingers crossed on both hands – while their noses grew very long, and their pants were ablaze.

http://fivepintlutheran.blogspot.com/ David Cochrane

Ahhh! Another vast right wing conspiracy in the offing!

http://fivepintlutheran.blogspot.com/ David Cochrane

Ahhh! Another vast right wing conspiracy in the offing!

http://theobservationtree.blogspot.com Louis

Tom –

http://theobservationtree.blogspot.com Louis

Tom –

http://geochristian.wordpress.com/ Kevin N

It sort of reminds me of the crime of “wrecking” detailed by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago.

http://geochristian.wordpress.com/ Kevin N

It sort of reminds me of the crime of “wrecking” detailed by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago.

SAL

The conspiratorial tone in American politics is becoming more common. I think this is because Washington has been incapable of successfully addressing the nation’s most fundamental problems no matter which party rules.

SAL

The conspiratorial tone in American politics is becoming more common. I think this is because Washington has been incapable of successfully addressing the nation’s most fundamental problems no matter which party rules.

http://facebook.com/mesamike Mike Westfall

“If a president of this quality and insight has failed, …”

Wow. Maybe dead people DO bleed, after all.

http://facebook.com/mesamike Mike Westfall

“If a president of this quality and insight has failed, …”

Wow. Maybe dead people DO bleed, after all.

Porcell

Tom, at 1, The notion that Bush was comparatively a big spender is a myth. The best measure of a president’s fiscal policy is the ratio of spending to GDP. According to the CBO, recent president’s records are as follows:

Reagan 22.4 % Bush I 21.9 Clinton 19.8 Bush II 19.6

Bush II accomplished this with in the face of a recession in 2001, two wars, massive spending for hurricane Katrina, and in last years big spending for TARP, much of which has been or will be repaid with interest. Bush, also, made a major effort to reform Social Security and Fan and Fred, though he was defeated in this mainly by intransigent Democrat resistance.

Porcell

Tom, at 1, The notion that Bush was comparatively a big spender is a myth. The best measure of a president’s fiscal policy is the ratio of spending to GDP. According to the CBO, recent president’s records are as follows:

Reagan 22.4 % Bush I 21.9 Clinton 19.8 Bush II 19.6

Bush II accomplished this with in the face of a recession in 2001, two wars, massive spending for hurricane Katrina, and in last years big spending for TARP, much of which has been or will be repaid with interest. Bush, also, made a major effort to reform Social Security and Fan and Fred, though he was defeated in this mainly by intransigent Democrat resistance.

Tom Hering

Porcell, maybe not “comparatively,” but do you deny he was a big spender and debt-maker in his own right?

Tom Hering

Porcell, maybe not “comparatively,” but do you deny he was a big spender and debt-maker in his own right?

Porcell

Not really, Tom. Bush made a serious effort to reform Social Security in order to make it fiscally sustainable. He was thwarted in this, mainly by the Democrats. The fiscal problem of the federal government lies with vastly underfunded entitlements. Underneath the politics of entitlements is the great fondness of the American people for Social Security and Medicare among other programs.

The underlying political problem is that the American people n the past have been opposed to reforming these “entitlements.” The truth is that the American people through assorted interest groups fiercely defend assorted government programs. Blaming Bush for this is simple minded.

Porcell

Not really, Tom. Bush made a serious effort to reform Social Security in order to make it fiscally sustainable. He was thwarted in this, mainly by the Democrats. The fiscal problem of the federal government lies with vastly underfunded entitlements. Underneath the politics of entitlements is the great fondness of the American people for Social Security and Medicare among other programs.

The underlying political problem is that the American people n the past have been opposed to reforming these “entitlements.” The truth is that the American people through assorted interest groups fiercely defend assorted government programs. Blaming Bush for this is simple minded.

SKPeterson

Porcell – There’s plenty of blame to go around, both Dem and Rep. The problem is partly in the calculation of GDP and the increase in money. If, I have a process that injects large amounts of money into the economy creating asset inflation in various sectors, I artificially “expand” GDP, thereby changing the underlying numbers and making government expenditures appear to be less burdensome than they really are. However, much of the economic activity I have “created” is essentially fake: fake jobs, fake incomes, fake asset valuations. We kept this up through both the Clinton and Bush II years — remember Y2K and all the money we needed to spend to save us from disaster? the dot-com bubble? I seem to recall some guy named Greenberg, or Greenstone, or something who was involved in perpetuating the mess.

SKPeterson

Porcell – There’s plenty of blame to go around, both Dem and Rep. The problem is partly in the calculation of GDP and the increase in money. If, I have a process that injects large amounts of money into the economy creating asset inflation in various sectors, I artificially “expand” GDP, thereby changing the underlying numbers and making government expenditures appear to be less burdensome than they really are. However, much of the economic activity I have “created” is essentially fake: fake jobs, fake incomes, fake asset valuations. We kept this up through both the Clinton and Bush II years — remember Y2K and all the money we needed to spend to save us from disaster? the dot-com bubble? I seem to recall some guy named Greenberg, or Greenstone, or something who was involved in perpetuating the mess.

Porcell

SK, I addressed Tom’s one-sided claim against Bush. Sure, there is plenty of blame to go around on both sides, though I would argue on balance that the Democrats have the worst spending record. Just recently Obama Pelosi, Reid are involved in a classic Democratic spending juggernaut.

Supporters of the Dems, including Tom, bring up a fallacious tu quoque argument that Bush did it too.

Porcell

SK, I addressed Tom’s one-sided claim against Bush. Sure, there is plenty of blame to go around on both sides, though I would argue on balance that the Democrats have the worst spending record. Just recently Obama Pelosi, Reid are involved in a classic Democratic spending juggernaut.

Supporters of the Dems, including Tom, bring up a fallacious tu quoque argument that Bush did it too.

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